Hike in Retirement age – 10th Pay Revision Commission may recommend to hike to 58 years

According to recent reports published in the ‘Manoramaonline’, the 10th Kerala Pay Revision Commission expected to recommend to hike in retirement age for Kerala State Govt employees by two years from 56 to 58.

Kerala may raise retirement age to 58

“Thiruvananthapuram: Increasing the retirement age for Kerala government employees by two years to 58 may be one of the recommendations of the 10th Kerala Pay Revision Commission. The commission, led by Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair, will submit its report on July 10.

The commission is expected to recommend the increase of retirement age to balance the extra burden on the treasury due to a pay rise across the board. The report recommends a minimum salary of Rs 16,000 and a maximum salary of Rs 1 lakh for employees.

The youth wings of all political parties are against increasing the retirement age in the government service. Even the United Democratic Front government’s policies do not favour later retirement. The retirement age was raised to 56 from 55 during the previous Left Democratic Front rule.

Other recommendations include lowering the minimum eligibility for full pension to 25 years in service from the present 30. Full pension is equivalent to half of the basic pay. The report would also have recommendations intended to raise the efficiency of the employees along with their pay scale.”

Retirement Age from 60 to 58: Whatsapp message leaves government in tizzy; inquiry started

Whatsapp message leaves government in tizzy; inquiry started: The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The Government on Thursday was left in a tizzy over what its officials described as a “deliberate mischief” in form of a widely circulated message on Whatsapp that the Union Government had decided to reduce the retirement age of central government employees from 60 to 58 years.

The message also cited a purported answer given by the Ministry of Personnel in Parliament on December 11 to say that the government will bring a bill in Parliament in February-March 2015 to reduce the retirement age to 58. The government has now begun an inquiry to trace the person who circulated this wrong message as it caused considerable confusion among the bureaucracy and the political class as the purported move to reduce the retirement age was reported by some television channels as well as posted widely on social networking websites. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu had to get up in Parliament on Thursday afternoon to deny any such move to reduce the retirement age and posted the same on his Twitter account. Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh, who had answered a question in Parliament on Thursday saying there was no move to reduce the retirement age, had to make a statement to Doordarshan and ANI in the evening to set the record straight. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) sent out multiple messages and also issued an official statement in the night saying there was no such proposal.

A senior government official said a probe has been necessitated to trace out the offender as a parliament reply given earlier by the Ministry of Personnel on December 11 had been twisted and a wrong picture painted of the contents of the said reply in the widely circulated WhatsApp message. On December 11, the Ministry of Personnel was in fact asked if there was a move to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62. The Ministry replied that there was no such move. But the said Whatsapp message said the Ministry was asked on December 11 was whether the retirement age would be reduced from 60 to 58 and claimed the government had answered in the affirmative and also said a bill will be brought to Parliament in February-March 2015 for the same. “This is a completely wrong message and a deliberate mischief by someone,” a senior government official said, adding that an inquiry has been started to trace out the said person.

The Centre has clarified in the Parliament that there are no plans to reduce the retirement age for Central Government employees. The Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh had said this via a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha yesterday.

The Minister has already clarified that there are no plans to increase the retirement age to 62 in Rajya Sabha on 11th December 2014.

This puts to rest speculations that had been making the rounds for a number of weeks now.

The Minister also presented the details of the money spent as payment for the Central Government employees. According to his reply, Rs. 85,963.5 crores was spent in 2010-11; Rs.92,264.88 was spent in 2011-12; and Rs. 1,04,759.71 was spent in 2012-2013 for payments to employees of various Central Government organizations running all over the country.

To the question raised by Mr. Sardar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy and Mrs. Ambika Soni, Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that as per the recommendations of the 5th Pay Commission in 1997, the retirement age of Central Government employees was raised from 58 to 60.

The Pay Commission has the power to recommend an increase or decrease in the retirement age for Central Government employees. Will the 7th Pay Commission make any recommendation in this regard?

Revision of retirement age topic echoes also in Parliament today. Dopt Minister replied in a written form to a question asked by the members of Sardar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Dr.T.Subbarami Reddy and Smt. Ambika Soni in Rajya Sabha today. Minister said that there is no proposal under consideration of Government to reduce the retirement age from 60 to 58 years for its employees.

He also said, the Centre’s total wages and salaries bill for its employees for the year 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 is Rs. 85,963.50 crore, Rs. 92,264.88 crore and Rs. 1,04,759.71 crore, respectively. The retirement age for Central Government employees was revised from 58 to 60 years in 1997 on the basis of recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission.

Read our exclusive article on this subject “The Motive behind Reducing Retirement Age for Central Government Employees – An Analysis”

And another stir article published on 10.12.2014 “Retirement Age to be Reduced from 60 to 58 for Central Government Employees?